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Definition of meticulous
: marked by extreme or excessive care in the consideration or treatment of details a meticulous researcher
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Examples of meticulous in a Sentence
Always meticulous about his appearance in the past, he had become dirty and unkempt, with straggly hair, stained clothes, and patches of silver stubble on his chin. —Minette Walters, Fox Evil, 2002
She was very much the craftswoman, all her work meticulous, slow, perfect. —Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman, 1998
In dense, meticulous arguments … Brooten mounts an assault on that view. —Cullen Murphy, Atlantic, August 1993
He described the scene in meticulous detail.
He is meticulous about keeping accurate records.
Recent Examples of meticulous from the Web
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Sumptuous fabrics, movie-star-chic designs, and meticulous detailing – visitors can lean in close enough to see the stitches.
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A single miniature can take months of work, as the two artists recreate meticulous, life-like replicas.
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Summerville designed the brothel costume in meticulous mix-and-match detail to evoke a woman who feels in control of every aspect of her life.
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Rest, nutrition, and exercise are essential when a simple spacewalk requires meticulous practice filling air tanks, checking control systems, and inspecting your space suit for leaks.
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The process is slow and meticulous, because the costs of Merritt's interiors typically run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per room.
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Working a good deal of her career in the visual arts, Rifkin has helped celebrated photographer Gregory Crewdson make his big, meticulous pictures that suggest dark, mysterious narratives.
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Joseph — who later became an engineer, settled in New Jersey and lived to 91 — chronicled the journey in meticulous detail, using four notebooks.
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Teaching is hard, meticulous, energy-demanding work.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'meticulous'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
meticulous Has Fearful Roots
It may surprise you to learn that meticulous is derived from the Latin word for "fearful" - meticulosus - and ultimately comes from the Latin noun metus, meaning "fear." Although meticulous currently has no "fearful" meanings, it was originally used as a synonym of frightened and timid. This sense had fallen into disuse by 1700, and in the 19th century meticulous acquired a new sense of "overly and timidly careful" (probably influenced by the French word méticuleux). This in turn led to the current meaning of "painstakingly careful," with no connotations of fear at all. The newest use was controversial among some usage commentators at first, but it has since become by far the most common meaning and is no longer considered an error.
Origin and Etymology of meticulous
Latin meticulosus fearful, irregular from metus fear
Synonym Discussion of meticulous
METICULOUS Defined for English Language Learners
meticulous
playDefinition of meticulous for English Language Learners
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: very careful about doing something in an extremely accurate and exact way
METICULOUS Defined for Kids
meticulous
playDefinition of meticulous for Students
: showing extreme or excessive care in thinking about or dealing with small details a meticulous description
Learn More about meticulous
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See words that rhyme with meticulous Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for meticulous Spanish Central: Translation of meticulous Nglish: Translation of meticulous for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of meticulous for Arabic speakers
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